Word Count: ~1.7k

Sehun had always worked hard to get into Kairin Academy for the Performing Arts. He had great grades, always one of the top students in his classes. He also excelled at the performing arts, aspiring to be a pop star in a group like Super Junior. He spent all of the time that he didn’t need for studying, eating, or sleeping practicing things like dance. He loved to dance and his friend said that that was when he looked like he was truly alive. Taeyeon said that he should smile more because the cold expression wasn’t very pleasant and that he had a cute smile.

Except for Taeyeon, he didn’t really care to have friends because he didn’t really care about making friends. Taeyeon approached him one day during a lunch break when he was in his second year of primary school. She saw that he was eating lunch alone and decided to say hello to him. She plunked herself down next to him with eyes sparkling.

“Hello, my name is Taeyeon what is yours?” She watched him curiously as he finished his bite and swallowed before answering her question.

“Sehun,” he said rather curtly and to her surprise.

“What’s such a nice looking boy doing here by yourself? Why do I never see you out with anyone?” It was true that he really was a loner. Whenever there was a break, he was off by himself instead of hanging around the classroom with all of the shallow and idle chitchat going on. He just shrugged and took another bite of his lunch. Taeyeon sighed and pouted, upset that this boy was just blowing her off. She was just trying to help. Without another response after a long silence, she finally left, sitting alone at her own desk.

Sehun saw her out of the corner of his eye and noted that she was sitting alone and wondered why a pretty girl like her was sitting alone at the most social hour of the day. At the end of the lunch break, he packed his lunch up a little messily and stuffed the box back into his bag then got out his books to begin world history, not one of his personal favourites. After school, he headed straight for the bus and straight for home. He didn’t feel like going to the dance studio and instead decided that he just wanted to go home and do homework. He actually just wanted to go to bed but he had to keep his grades up.

The next day, Taeyeon came back at lunch again. She smiled at him and this time set her lunch down and ate with him. Although the question was not casual in the least, he asked it so casually that it could have been something as benign as, “The weather is nice today, isn’t it.” Instead he asked a very personal question very bluntly. “Why aren’t you sitting with anyone?”

She froze a bite halfway to . She shrugged as nonchalantly as she could but he could tell that there was something she was hiding. “No reason.” He didn’t press any further.

The day after, she didn’t come over to his desk and instead just sat alone at her own. He felt bad about asking the question the day prior and went over to her desk this time. She looked up, surprised.

“You looked lonely,” he mumbled, looking down. She smiled at him and his pale cheeks tinted pink. A smile spread across her thin lips and Sehun couldn’t help but smile back at her. “You should smile more, you look cuter that way.”

That was the beginning of the only friendship he had through primary school. It turned out that they lived blocks away from one another they had just never seen each other because Sehun almost always left school late and came to school just before it started, it was not unusual for him to run in through the door just as the bell was ringing, signalling first period to start. Taeyeon arrived early and she almost right after school. It was only when one of Sehun’s dance practices was cancelled that he saw her on the same bus that he took home. When he asked where she lived, it turned out to be only a few blocks away from his own house, certainly within walking distance.

—

From then on, he would visit her house on the weekends when she was free. Taeyeon had other friends, but Sehun didn’t really want to hang out with them, he preferred to be alone with Taeyeon. He wasn’t jealous of her having friends other than him and he wasn’t jealous that they spent time with her. He accepted it and spent time with her when he could. They always ate lunch together, it was like sacred time that he could spend alone with her and that never changed.

On occasion, she came to watch his dance practices after school and commented that he looked truly alive when he danced and that he should take part in performances. That was probably the only reason why he tried out for the winter dance concert in the first place. They gave him the role as lead dancer easily because of how well he danced and Taeyeon was thrilled when he told her. She was the one who showed up to every performance bring a different flower each night to present to him. She was the one who cheered the loudest when he bowed. Even if she brought her friends and they looked at her weirdly when she cheered louder than anyone else, he didn’t mind.

She was in total awe when he told her that he aspired to be a pop star and told him that he could definitely do it with the skills he had. He was like Hyukjae in Super Junior. Sehun turned bright red at this and it was one of the few times anyone had seen him flustered. She was always supportive of him but she never lied about his skills. She rarely lied anyway. She didn’t even lie to Sehun when she got a boyfriend. He wasn’t upset about it, he was truly happy for her. They were really just friends. It was one of those rare relationships between a boy and a girl, almost like being siblings but also being friends.

—

The application process for getting into Kairin was a long and difficult process that took up a lot of Sehun’s free time, but he didn’t mind. There were several parts to the entrance exam and application. He had to submit an 800-word essay about why he should be accepted and what his passions were. There was also an academic entrance exam, which included another essay writing section and a maths section. He passed both easily. The interview was a little more difficult as Sehun was not exactly the most adept at talking to people, but he passed that well enough.

When the fancy acceptance letter appeared in the mail with a golden sticker seal next to the signature of the head of the admission office, he had to bring it to school to show Taeyeon. She was just as happy as he was, if not happier. She hugged him close and congratulated him, taking both of his hands in hers and grinning broadly at him, eyes sparkling. He smiled one of his rare smiles. When she got like this, he really couldn’t help but smile with her. She petted his head, a habit that she had picked up some time back when they first met. He didn’t mind it. She had to reach up because he was a little taller than she was.

—

It wasn’t until the end of sixth year of primary school that they realised something. He wouldn’t really be able to see her anymore. He would be at a boarding school and he probably wouldn’t be able to go off campus until vacation.  The winter break before he went to Kairin, she decided to spend every day she could with him. She knew her friends were going to the same middle school as her and told them that she could see them then. They were disappointed but they also knew how big of a deal it would be to not be able to see someone closer than a best friend more than four times a year.

They had sleepovers often, staying up until dawn or quite nearly just talking. They talked about all of the fun they had had over these past four years and what they expected to get out of secondary school and university, although talking about that particular subject, they were walking on eggshells. If it ever got too close to talking about not being able to see each other, a melancholy silence fell over the conversation. A few minutes later, they would change the subject to something completely different.

They also went out to the park and walked around, sipping bubble tea and went to movies together. It was a winter break that Sehun almost hoped would never end and a time that Taeyeon never wanted to end. She came over to his house the day before he had to leave to help him pack for leaving to the school. The suitcase on the bed had finality to it. They couldn’t believe that the break was over.

Taeyeon sat on the bed next to the suitcase, swinging her legs over the edge. “Sehun?”

“Hm?”

“You won’t forget about me, right? You won’t forget to call me on the weekends, right?” She was staring at her swinging feet and her toenails painted with flower decals on them. Her sandals were sitting at the foot of his bed.

“No. Of course not. I’ll call you every week and tell you all about everything I do.” He turned and looked at her but she continued to look down. “You won’t forget about me either, right?”

“Of course I won’t.” She looked up and smiled sadly. He sat down on the bed next to her, making the mattress dip and wrapped a long thin arm around her shoulders. Warm tears slipped out of her eyes and Sehun just hugged her silently until the tears stopped. She sniffled and wiped her swollen red eyes with the heel of her hand. “I definitely won’t forget you,” he whispered.

She smiled. “Let’s get packing then.”

A/N: Sorry for any Taeyeon x Sehun feels. It felt like a good place to start. The story got out of hand a little in relation to the TaeHun, though. XD